Automatic gun.



A. TfDAWsoN AE G. T. BUCKHAA/.la

AUTOMATIC GUN.

APPLICATION FILED 00T. 23, 1907.

Patented Dec. 7, 1909.

A 3 SHEETS-SHEET l.

A. T. DAWSON & G. T. BUGKHAM.

AUTOMATIC GUN.

APPLIQATION FILED OCT. 23, 1907.

Patented Dec. 7, 1909.

A. T. DAWSON & G. T. BUCKHAM.

AUTOMATIC GUN.

APPLICATION FILED 00T. 23, 1907.

Patented new, 1909.

v a SHEETS- SHEET a.

' tripod or ,similar mountiiw.

im 'rn sin Aanr -rricn ARTHUR TREVOR DAWSON-AND GEORGE THOMAS BUCKHAM, OF LONDON, ENGLAND, ASSIGNORS TO VICKERS SONS 8c MAXIM LIMITED, OF LONDON, ENGLAND.

AUTOMATIC GUN.

To all 'whom it may concern:

r t Be it known that we, ARTHUR licnvon .DAwsoN, Vlieutenant Royal Navy, director and superintendent of Ordnance lVorks, and GEORGE THOMAS BECKHAM, engineer, both subjects of the King of Great Britain, residing at 32 Victoria street, Westminster, Lon# don, in the county of London, England, have .inventedcertain new and useful Improve- We will describe our improviements with reference to which* Figure l is a side elevation of our improved automatic gun provided..V with a shoulder piece. Fig. 2A is a vertical section showing .the internal mechanismen a larger scale. Fig. 3 is a sectional elevatiin 'of the lock mechanism on a'still larger scale. Fig. t is a side elevation, and Fig'. 5 a rear end elevation of a modified form of our improved automatic gun having a handle block and intended to be tired from an ordinary the accompanying drawings, in

tical section, and Fig. 7 a sectional plan of the same. Fig. 8 is a vertical section of the breech mechanism 'showing toa large scale the lock at the commencement of its for- .vardmoveinent after havin been retracted. Fig. 9 is a similar section sioving the lock advanced almost to it'sicomplete forward position, and Fig. 10 shows said lock fully ad vanced. Fig. ll is awdetail sc ctipnal elevation of the safety" Sear arlilaiigenient. Fig. 12- is-a 'side elevation."y Fig. 13 a plan, and Fig. 14a front elevation of the lifting lever and cocking'arm, Fig. '13 showing these .partssepai'ated but in position -to be' fitted together. .A

Like letters of reference indicate similar parts inallthe figures.

The improved gun is constructed on the,

principle of the Well kn'own Maxim auto- 1 matic rifle caliber gun which is supplied Specification of Letters Patent.

Fig. 6 is a ver.

Patented Bec. 7, 1909.

Application led October 23, 1907. Serial No. 398,718.

comprises a reciprocating lock A adapted to recoil in guides on the side plates B B of an inclosing casing and to impart mot-ion to a crank shaft C through toggle levers (comprising the crank C and the connecting rod C2) against the resistance of a spring C which in reacting supplies the necessary energy for returning the lock to the tiring position and resetting the parts ready for an ensuing discharge, as well as for causing the cartridge feed belt to carry a fresh cartridge into the feed block D. rPhe said block A has the usual vertical moving cartridge carrier E which, during the recoil, is

acted upon by suitably arranged stationary cams F F engaging with horns e on the cari rier. Lifting levers G actuated by side levers G, are` provided for elevating the said carrier as the lock completes its for ward movement, thus bringing the carrier- `i-nto engagement with the rim of the ensuing cartridge that has been meanwhile carried into the feed block D by the movementof the belt. The firing is effected by means of a sliding trigger plate H which is actuated by -a trigger and a trigger lever H at the rear of the breech casing and which acts upon the scar a of the lock mechanism for releasing the cocking arm or tumbler` a and permitting the striker a2 to advance under the influence of the main spring a3.

When the trigger is operated, the sliding trigger plate H rocks the sear a and'releases its lower end from engagement with the tumbler a; the main spring a3 then drives the tiring pin or striker@2 against the cartridge in the gun barrel and thereby fires the gun; the foi-wail .:oveinentof `the striker a? also cause'. the tumbler a to be rocked into a position in u hich its free end 9 bears upon the connecting rod C2. The lock i with the stationary cam surfaces F which assist gravity in depressing the carrier E into the position shown in Fig. 8. -The carrier E is free to descend owing to the fact that the recoil of the lockhas caused the toggle levers C if)2 to move, against the resistance of the spring C; and the crank C turns about the axis of the c'ank shaft C, the connecting rod (l2 becomes tilted correspondingly, that is to say, assuines the 1 oblique position shown in Fig. S, and in so doing moves the side levers G', which form part of said connecting rod, away from the lifting'levers Gr as. shown in this figure. The tilting of the conneetiiig rod C2 also effects the lie-cooking of the striker by rais ing the free end ofthe tumbler a and there tained in its proper horizontal position by A the engagement of the springcontrolled pawl c2 with the rim of the cartridge. Toward the completion of the return movement of the lock, the shoulder e on the safety senr u engages with a corresponding shoulder wl on'thc tiring pin or striker a2 under the influence of the spring um (Fig. 3); also the `side levers G engage with the lifting levers G (as shown in Fig. El) and thereby cause the cartridge carrier E to slide upward against the face of the gun barrel and feed block, and engage at its upper part with the rim of another fresh cartridge which has meanwhile been fed into the feed block p l) the s brine' controlled )awt c"0ivinr wav 1 l e: l b ci during this movement. As the toggle levers C', C become finally straightened out (sec Fig. l0), the lever C2 depresses the free end of the safety scar a* and thereby disengages it from the striker a?. The gun then ready to be tired again.

The chief feature of novelty of our in qvent-ion consists in that we invert the lock mechanism, that is to say, instead of the tumbler a, the scar a, the main spring o and the lifting levers G being arranged be-' low the axis of the tiring pin they are arranged above" it, and the trigger plate H for actuating the said sear is situated at the upper part of the breech casing, namely on the hinged cover plate B, instead of at the bottorn of the said casing as heretofore. IThe lifting levers G instead of being pivoted on an independent axle are mounted on the same axle c* as that upon which the cooking arm or tumbler 7/ is mounted and they are operated by the side levers G which form part of the connecting rod C2 as in the lock mechanism already in' use, except that the said side levers project in an upward direction instead of downwardly. It will be Vseen that by mounting the cooking arm and lifting levers on the same axle, only two saaie? axle pins are required in the whole of the lock mechanism instead of three as hitherto. The sa fet'v sear a." is arranged below the axis of the striker and has its forward end forked to engage with a i'ixed pin at; near its rearward end it has a downward projection u (ligs. 3 and il) engaging with a slot a7 formed in the bottom of the lock frame, thereby preventing saitl safety sear from be coming longitudinally disengaged from the pin tr', but permitting of its free movement about the said pin during the working of the gun.

,lu detaching the various Vparts of the lock mechanism the axis pins about which the scar, the cooking arm, and the side levers move, are removed from the lock frame, and the striker 'is withdrawn longitudinally, whereupon the free end of the safety sear a* rises under the influence of its spring el@ and can be readily removed by hand without the necessity of removing therefrom any means of attachment, but merely drawing its forked end away from the pin 0.5, as shown in ifig. 1l. 'lhe cartridge carrier E is retained in the usual position, z'. c. with the horns e at its upper end, but the lifting levers G are adapted to act upon said carrier near its upper end instead of at a point near its lower end. lBy constructing the lock in this manner we are able to make the same of much less depth than heretofore with the result that the depth of the breech casing can be correspondingly reduced and a diminution'in the total weight of the gun effected.

in Figs. 'l and 2 the shoulder piece is in the form of a rifle butt A? and may be made hollow for sake of lightness.

ln the modification shown by Figs. t to 7, we have illustrated our improvem ants applied to an automatic gun which is adapted to be tired from an ordinary tripod stand `or mounting in the well known manner.

The rear part of the dlc block P.

l'Vhat we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patentof the United States is zl. ln an automatic gun of the Maxim type, a reciprocating lock consisting in the combination with the Striker, the vertically moving cartridge carrier and the side levers, of a eocking arm, a tiring scar, and a main spring, all situated above the axis of the gun has the usual hanstrikcr, lifting levers for the carrier mount-I ed on the same axis as that of the cooking arm and engaging with the carrier at its upper end, a safety Sear' situated below the axis of said striker, a sliding trigger plate engaging with the frin Sear, and means for actuating said trigger p ate to lire the gun.

2. In an automatic gun of the Maxim type, a reciprocatingloek consisting in the "combination with the striker, the vertically moving cartridge carrier, and the side levers, of

a coekingarm, a iringsea-r, and a main spring, all situated above the axis of the striker, lifting levers for the carrier mounton the' saine axis as that of the cocking arm and engaging with the carrier. at its i ya reciprocating lockl consisting in the combination with the striker, the vertically moving cartridge carrier, the side levers, the

wcocl-rin'farm, the tiring Sear, the main spring,

and l'ting levers for the carrier, of a pivoted safety se'ar having a notch therein, a

pivot pin in the lock frame with which the .said notch engages and on which the safety Sear pivots, means for preventing said Safety searfrom unintentional disengagement from the pivot pin, a sliding trigger plate engaging with the firing Sear, and means for actuating said trigger plate to fire the gun.

Il. ln an automatic gun of the Maxim type,

a reciprocating lock consisting in the `combination with the striker, the vertically moving cartridge Y carrier, the side levers, the

cooking arm, the firing Sear, the main spring,

and llifting levers for the carrier, of a pivoted safety Sear having a forked end, a'pin inthe lock frame with which the forked end engages and on which it pivots, means for preventing the said safety Sear from movlng longitudinally away from the pin, a sliding trigger plate engaging with the ring sea-r, and means for actuating said trigger plate to lire the gun. n-

5. In an automatic gun of the Maxim type, a reciprocating lock consisting in the com bination with the striker, the vertically moving cartridge carrier, the side levers, the cooking arm, the firing sear, the main spring, and lifting levers for the carrier, of a safety rear having a forked end, a pin in the lock frame with which the forked end engages, a transverse projection on the safety sear, a slot ignA the lock frame with Which the said projetion engages, a sliding trigger plate engag- K ing with the liring Sear, and v means for actu- ARTHUR TREVOR DAWSON. GEORGE THOMAS BUOKHAM.

, Witnesses:

HENRY. KING, CHAs. GOLDWERB. 

